Erase My Scars
by theabridgedkuriboh
Summary: Tasuku hates what he's done to his body due to reckless behavior in the lines of duty. He fears that Rouga will hate his body as well and keeps it a secret. But Rouga can always read Tasuku well and knows something is up. He keeps a close eye on him throughout the day until he finally discovers what has been bothering Tasuku. (Warning: Some mentions of nudity and sensual kisses)


Hey Buddyfight fandom. I'm posting this one shot here because its a little too long for Tumblr. At least I think so. So, if you were guided here by Tumblr link, awesome. Thanks for reading. If you're here by choices by the Buddyfight section of this site, double awesome. I welcome you.

Now, this fic's prompt is from a beautiful blog on Tumblr "OTPPrompts" which I adore. If you have a Tumblr do look at their blog.

Anyway, we have some beautiful RouTasu feels here. But I do have to put as a warning that it gets a little sexual...ish...but they're in high school in this fic so please have that in mind. It' only gets to kisses that's as far as it gets. I promise. But still...gotta add the little warning.

So, I hope you enjoy the fic guys. Reviews are appreciated but not required (But boy do I love em).

* * *

Future Card Buddyfight

RouTasu

Erase My Scars

In the darkness of the room everything was cold. Nothing could be seen save for a single full length mirror that stood before him. With his shirt removed he gazed at his torso, now filled with scars, small and large that travel up and down his body. Fingers trace those scars. He shivers in disgust.

'What have I become?' He thinks to himself. His fingers stop at the end of his newest scar, fresh and familiar. He wished they were gone, that they could be erased forever. But scars never fade. They only heal but never fade.

Looking in the mirror at himself, he sees the sadness and unfamiliar. He doesn't recognize himself. This wasn't him. He was never one to be so careless, and yet here he was in front of a mirror recollecting on all of his scars.

Another chill ran down his spine. He took the black turtleneck sweater that hung over the mirror and put it on. Thick fabric now hugging his body he should feel safe, but that was not the case. He still felt vulnerable. He still felt like his scars were showing.

He fell to his knees and wrapped his arms around himself, his fingers digging into his shoulders he pulled the sweater closer, holding on for dear life. He closed his eyes as his body shook.

Scars were not the end of the world, he knew this to be true. And yet, he still couldn't help but feel unsure of himself. There was nothing to fear, but the fear engulfed him. He was swallowed up by the darkness of himself.

* * *

Rouga watches Tasuku curiously. Usually the blue haired Buddyfighter would be very upbeat, participating in class and giving smart answers that made other students minds boggle or clap in astonishment. But now, he was very quiet. He has his head hung low, and his hands resting on top of his shoulders. Something was wrong but he didn't know what it was.

So, when the bell rang signalling the end of classes, Rouga went after Tasuku to see just what was wrong. He manages to corner him in a vacant hallway. He seems very out of it.

"What the hell is going on, Ryuenji? You're acting different. What happened?" He asks.

"There's nothing going on that you need to worry about, Rouga." Tasuku replies.

Rouga knows that Tasuku is lying and glares at him. "I can read you like a book, Ryuenji. I know you're upset. How do you expect to make this work if you can't trust me for even two seconds of your life?"

Tasuku looks away for a moment, guilt and sadness bubbling in his stomach, but he pushes it down and makes his way passed Rouga. "We're going to be late for gym."

Rouga watches him go, shocked that he would ignore him so easily. Feeling a bit betrayed he stalks after Tasuku. He was determined to figure out what was wrong with him. There was still time and ways of learning the truth. He wasn't going to let this go.

* * *

In the locker room, Rouga notices that Tasuku didn't change with everyone else. He went into one of the stalls to change instead. He thought that was odd of him to do but didn't question it, assuming that maybe he had to use the bathroom or something. But Rouga did notice that he was in there a while, longer than it should take for a guy to change clothes. He grew concerned.

"Let's go, boys. Out to the track."

The other students began to flood out of the locker room and Tasuku finally exited the stall. When he came out, Rouga noticed that he was wearing both the usual gym shirt and a T-shirt underneath.

"What are you wearing?" Rouga asks.

"Gym clothes." Tasuku replies nonchalantly. He walks over to Rouga and took a strand of his long white hair into his fingers and twirled it around. "You're going to put your hair up, right?"

Rouga nods. "Yeah. I was going to do it on the way."

"Then we should go." Tasuku says.

Rouga reaches out for Tasuku's shoulder when he starts to walk away, but retracts his hand back and simply follows after him. He wants to know just what Tasuku is hiding, but for now it can wait. Getting in trouble won't do either of them any good.

'Why are you so afraid to talk to me?' Rouga asks himself. It felt like Tasuku was drifting further and further away from him. He knew that before long, he would be too far gone. He had to act soon before it was too late.

During the stretches, Tasuku seems very cautious. He would only lift his arms so high over his head, as if he were afraid to get hurt. Rouga also notices the split seconds when Tasuku would make a pained whine that was only soft enough for him to hear. That was Rouga's hint that Tasuku was hurt in some way, but he didn't know where.

When it was time to be partnered up, Rouga stood behind Tasuku to help with his leg and back stretch. Tasuku had his arms out in front of him, but asks Rouga to be gentle and to not push too hard. Rouga asks him why and Tasuku replies with, "I'm not feeling too good today, that's all." Rouga listens and went as gentle as he could. That was Rouga's second hint, that it had something to do with his stomach.

It was time to run the track. Tasuku was up first, along with four other people. Tasuku was constantly adjusting his shirt while he waits for the whistle to blow. When the signal came from the coach, they all got into running positions and the whistle was blown.

Right away, Tasuku shows a struggle. He was usually pretty fast. He could keep up to at least second place, but today he was in fourth place. It was very strange. Everyone notices as well and were whispering about it on the sidelines. Rouga didn't like it at all. Something was very wrong.

While Tasuku was running, trying to make an effort on catching up, the wind pushing against him made his shirt blow around with it. And for a split second, Rouga saw it.

Bandages.

Rouga stood up from his seat in the bleachers and marched down onto the track. He ran to the finish line and waited for Tasuku and the others to get there. He was angry now. Something like this was not meant to be hidden. Something bad happened to him, so much so that he needs bandages to hide it.

Standing at the finish line, he stood with his arms crossed over his chest. Tasuku saw him from the bend and began to slow down, costing him second place. When he made it across the finish line, Rouga walks up to him and grabs his arm.

"We need to talk." He said. He began to drag the blue haired boy away from the tracks, despite the coaches protests.

"Aragami. Ryuenji. Get back here."

"Sorry, but this is important." Rouga argues.

The coach gave up on the two and focused on the rest of the class. Rouga continues to drag Tasuku away, all the way to the locker room. When they were finally alone, Rouga turns his back to Tasuku while he sat on the bench.

"Why did you take me here? You're going to get us in trouble." Tasuku asks angrily.

"You're the one who's in trouble." Rouga says bitterly. He turns his body to face Tasuku. "You don't trust me, do you?"

Tasuku was confused by that and sat down next to Rouga. "What are you talking about?"

Rouga grabs Tasuku by the front of his shirt and yanks on it, pulling him closer towards him. "You have been lying to me all day. You say that there's nothing wrong but there is." He lets go of Tasuku's shirt and takes a breath before continuing. "I know about the bandages."

Tasuku's eyes shook with fear at those words. He tried to pull his shirt closer in hopes that the bandages would be forgotten to Rouga, but it was too late. Nothing could make Rouga forget. Tasuku's body language concerned Rouga greatly and he tried to lift Tasuku's shirt to see just what it was that Tasuku was covering up, but the boy moved away from him.

"Don't…" Tasuku cries. He hugs himself tight and steps away from Rouga. "I don't want you seeing them."

"Them?" Rouga gasps in shock. "There's more than one. What the hell did you do?"

"I didn't do anything." Tasuku exasperates. "It's not my fault." He falls to his knees and sobs. "It's not my fault…."

Rouga stood up from the bench and crouched down beside Tasuku. He moved to wrap his arms around him, but Tasuku bolted up and ran out of the room. Rouga was so shocked he couldn't process it right away.

Tasuku was scared of him in that moment. He ran away from him. The look in Tasuku's eyes when Rouga tried to hold him; it was indescribable. An unmeasurable level of fear.

Rouga went after Tasuku for almost an hour, only to learn that he went home early. Rouga couldn't stay in school knowing that something was wrong with Tasuku, so he decided to ditch the rest of his classes and go to Tasuku's home. He knew it wasn't too far from where he was. About 20 minutes on foot. 15 minute if he ran. Rouga decided that walking and running were out of the question, and decided to just use his Buddy Skill. It was forbidden on school grounds, but he didn't really care. Once he was outside the gates, he was free to do whatever he wants.

Taking out his Buddy's card, he called his name. "Cerberus." The 3 headed wolf-hound roared gracefully into the afternoon sky before looking down on his Buddy. "I need your Buddy Skill."

Cerberus didn't bother to question Rouga and did as he was told. His eyes lit up yellow and Rouga's demonic spear came into his hand. He took off into the skies, along with Cerberus, towards Tasuku's home. It wouldn't be long now.

* * *

Walking up to Tasuku's front door, Rouga grabbed the door handle and turned it. The door was locked. He grabbed a small hair pin from his pocket and began to pick the lock to Tasuku's door. It wasn't too hard, he's done this plenty of times. Sometimes to his own home. (He doesn't always remember his key.) The door clicked and Rouga opened the door. Right away, Rouga noticed that it was dark. Almost nothing was out of place.

"Where the hell is he?" Rouga asked himself.

Cerberus, now in his mini form, curled himself up on the couch. He knew that Rouga was doing this for Tasuku and didn't want to get involved. Rouga didn't really mind since he didn't need his Buddy's help for this one. He made his way slowly up the stairs to look for Tasuku. As he reached the top, he noticed that the upstairs level was dark as well. A very bad sign. Rouga looked around in the bedrooms for any sign of Tasuku, but with each door he opened he grew more worried with each empty room he walked in to.

Pulling out his cell phone, he checked to see if Tasuku had called him or even left a text message but there was nothing new at all. Not even a single alert. This was where Rouga drew the line. He had to be somewhere. And if he wasn't home then where? Where else could he go? There was no where else to go.

"Shit." Rouga cursed and ran back down the stairs. He stalks over to the couch and looks over at Cerberus. "Cerberus I-" That's when he saw Tasuku lying on the couch sleeping. Rouga felt angry for a moment but quickly calms himself down and runs his fingers through his hair, sighing audibly to himself. "Nevermind."

Cerberus moves himself from one end of the couch to the other and lays himself up against Tasuku. "I was going to tell you but I didn't feel like it. It was rather funny to watch you freak out like that."

Rouga growls and glares at his Buddy for a moment only to remember why he was here. He crossed the room and around the couch and crouches down in front of his boyfriend. He runs his fingers over Tasuku's face and brushes his hair back. "You're going to kill me one day with all the worrying you put me through, Ryuenji." Rouga says softly to himself.

Standing up, Rouga's eyes drift momentarily to Tasuku's stomach. He wanted to know what happened. What was Tasuku covering up and how it happened? But that wasn't happening, at least not yet. Rouga needed to get back into good graces with Tasuku. And he knew of a way to do that.

"Watch out for him, Cerberus. I'm counting on you." Rouga says to his buddy.

Cerberus give a silent, half caring nod and goes back to his nap. Rouga heads back up the stairs to take care of a few things before Tasuku wakes up from his nap.

* * *

Red eyes slowly open up, drowsiness and pain floods his body as he became more aware of what was happening around him. Sitting up from the couch, Tasuku hisses as he did, feeling the pain in his shoulders and his stomach. He held his stomach and looks around the room. Sleepily he notices Cerberus fast asleep just a few inches away from him. He watches the way the buddy monsters chest rose and fell as he breathes. Tasuku smiles to himself and realized that Rouga must be here as well. His smile fell for a moment as he recalled their altercation in the locker room. How he ran off the way he did. How he hid himself away from Rouga in fear. He knew it wasn't right but he was scared. He wasn't sure how Rouga would treat him after seeing what has happened to his body after all this time. He just wanted them to disappear so he wouldn't have to fear how others would look at him, how Rouga would look at him.

Taking a deep breath, Tasuku stood up from the couch and began to look around the small home for Rouga. He called Rouga's name again and again but receives no response until he finally reaches the top of the stairs and calls Rouga's name one more time. Rouga steps out of Tasuku's bedroom and leans against the door. He looks at Tasuku with a grin. "Someone had a nice nap."

Tasuku smiles to himself and nods in agreement. "I did. But better observation would be that you were in my room. Could you tell me why?"

"Oh, no reason. I was just hanging out. That's all." Rouga replies. He steps forward and holds out a hand for Tasuku to take. "But first comes first: follow me."

Tasuku looks at Rouga's hand cautiously, his hands shaking as he was worried what Rouga has to show him. He slowly lifts a hand up and places it over Rouga's. Rouga closes his hand around Tasuku's and leads him into the bathroom. Tasuku was confused as to why they were going there but did not fight him. So, when they walked in, Tasuku saw that a bath was all ready for him. He could see the bubbles foaming to the tip top of the bath, candles spread across the room and two towels set aside on the side table. Tasuku walked further inside, never letting go of Rouga's hand.

"What did you do?" Tasuku asks. He lifts a hand full of bubbles out of the tub and looks at them closely, smiling to himself. "Why did you do it?"

Rouga walked up to Tasuku and wrapped his arms around him from behind, holding him gently by his waist and placed his chin on Tasuku's shoulder and smiled. "I know now that you're hurt. The bandages were all the evidence I needed. So, I know that you have to keep whatever it is that you're covering up clean."

Tasuku laughs and pushes the bubbles into Rouga's face. Rouga lets go of Tasuku's waist and wipes the bubbles away from his face. He stalks over the tub and grabs his own hand full of bubbles and smashes them into Tasuku's face. Tasuku laughs and wipes his face. He grabs more bubbles from the tub, Rouga does the same and a bubble war begins until the bubbles become mid-level with the tub.

Tasuku sat with Rouga on the floor between the white haired teens legs and his back to him. He was out of breath from all of the laughing that he's done. Leaning his head back against Rouga's chest, he looked up at him with a smile. Rouga looked down at him and rolled his eyes and ruffled the blue hair atop of Tasuku's head.

"It's a good thing you're talking a bath Ryuenji because now you smell of sweat." Rouga complained.

Tasuku pouted and leaned forward. "I'm not the only one here that smells of sweat." Tasuku says as he waves a hand over his face. Snickering to himself he looks back at the tub and then to Rouga. "You need a bath too, don't you?"

Rouga grinned and leaned in close to Tasuku. "Why not just take a bath together?"

Tasuku's face flushed bright red and he looked away from Rouga. "Together? What are you talking about? I'm not getting in the tub with you."

Rouga wraps his arms around Tasuku again and holds him close. "And why not? I won't bite." He moves in close to Tasuku's ear and whispers: "Well, maybe a little." before taking a small nibble at Tasuku's ear. Tasuku pulls away quickly and holds a hand up to his ear. His face has darkened in color even more as he wonders what has gotten into Rouga.

"Well it doesn't matter what you think about it. you made the bath for me. Not to mention that the bath may be too small for the both of us. It just won't work." Tasuku says, making up excuses.

Rouga shakes his head and stands up from the floor and walks over the tub. "You know full well that this bath is extravagant. No one has these installed unless you take baths together. This house was most likely owned by a couple last who was into that." Rouga argues.

But he was right. The tub was both wider and longer than normal japanese style baths. While they are usually rather short and narrow, this tub rather deep and about 7 feet long in length. It was astonishing. Rouga still couldn't believe that Tasuku had it all to himself.

"You're not going to let this go, are you?" Tasuku asks.

"No I'm not." Rouga answers honestly.

Tasuku sighs and finally agrees to Rouga's demands. "But only if I get to go in first."

Rouga shrugs his shoulders. "That's fine. But if you're going to get in do it soon. The water is getting cold by now."

Tasuku nods and begins to undo the buttons on his school shirt. While Tasuku undresses, Rouga turns away to give Tasuku some time. He understands that Tasuku wouldn't want him peeking at him anyway.

When Rouga heard the sound of water he could tell that Tasuku was in the bath and looks to see just that. Tasuku looks at Rouga from the tub while pushing the water around with his hands gently. "Are you...coming in?"

Rouga smiles and places a small towel over Tasuku's head. Tasuku moved the towel a bit so he could see Rouga who shook his head at him. "It's only fair right? So, cover your eyes."

Tasuku nods and uses the towel to cover his eyes. He didn't see the point but obliged to Rouga's demands. It only took a few moments for Rouga to completely undress. Wearing only a white collared shirt and school pants he was done rather quickly. Taking the towel from Tasuku's head, he wrapped it around his waist, got into the tub and sat across from the Tasuku.

Almost immediately Rouga noticed them. He saw the white scars that ran up, down and around Tasuku's midsection. Some looked fresh and some were older as they did not stick out as much as others. Rouga reached a hand out to touch them but Tasuku stopped him, wrapping his hand around Rouga's wrist.

"I know you're hurting, but hiding them from me won't do you any good." Rouga says softly. Tasuku bit his lip and released Rouga's wrist and let his hand fall to his side. Rouga moved his hand so that instead of going to touch Tasuku's stomach his fingers brushed against his cheeks, slowly cupping the one side so that he could feel Tasuku's soft skin. Tasuku leaned into the touch and closed his eyes. Tasuku held the hand that touched him and smiled.

"I'm sorry…" Tasuku says. "I just didn't know how to prepare for you knowing."

Rouga brushes his thumb against Tasuku's cheek and leans in closer. "What did you think would happen if I ever found out?"

Tasuku's head fell a bit to the side, his chest tightened as well. "I was afraid that...you would think I was reckless. That now I'm ugly for letting my work destroy my body."

Rouga stayed silent for a moment. For Tasuku it felt like years of waiting to hear a response. He could feel Rouga's fingers clenching ever so slightly against his cheek. This made Tasuku even more nervous than before. Tasuku closed his eyes again and waited for Rouga to say what he needed to. He just hoped that it wouldn't hurt as much as he was fearing.

The water sloshes around for a moment and Tasuku opens his eyes to feeling lips on his chest. He gasps in shock as he watches Rouga kiss one of his scars. It was a fairly old one. Tasuku places a hand on Rouga's head and runs his fingers through his hair as Rouga looks up at him.

"What are you doing?" Tasuku cries.

"Kissing your scars. What else?" Rouga replies.

"I know that but...why?" Tasuku asks.

Rouga traced the scar with his fingers. "To show you that you're being an idiot." Tasuku was confused, Rouga could tell. He sat up and placed a soft kiss on Tasuku's lips before speaking again. "Did you honestly think I would care about the scars on your body?" Tasuku nods and Rouga shakes his head. "Then you're an idiot. I like you because you fuel a passion in me that makes me excited to get out of bed in the morning. I'm not going to get into it too much, save the mushy stuff for another day, but you get what I'm trying to say, right?"

Tasuku nods, tears collecting in his eyes as he did. "I get it."

"And did you not think I had scars of my own?" Rouga asks.

Tasuku's eyes widen at that. He shakes his head. "No, I didn't think that you did."

Rouga sits back and lifts his hair up and turns his back to Tasuku. Gazing in horror, Tasuku's eyes follow the long scar that goes from the bottom of Rouga's neck to his mid back. It was very jagged from what Tasuku could tell. Whoever did it did not have the best grip, or too rough a grip. Tasuku didn't want to know which one was true.

"How did you-"

"Don't worry it happened when I was child. I was caught stealing from one of the market stands and I was put on public punishment. The vender got to run his knife down my back, but not enough to kill me. It hurt like a bitch but that's how the world worked." Rouga explains.

Tasuku adjusts his position so that he was kneeling in front of Rouga's back. He grabs Rouga's shoulders and leaves kisses down his neck where the scar begins. Rouga feels Tasuku's lips on his neck and smiles, his own face flushing just a bit. He looks over his shoulder and sees Tasuku smiling at him.

Rouga turns back to face him and Tasuku places his hands back on Rouga's shoulders. Rouga leans in first and kisses Tasuku's neck, leaving gentle kisses as he moves his way down. Tasuku laughs at the feeling. Rouga bites into Tasuku's nape and sucks on the flesh, pulling away moments later.

"When that sets in that will be a mark you can be most proud of." Rouga teases.

Tasuku covers the bite with his hand and blushes. "What if someone sees it?" Tasuku asks.

"Then tell 'em what it is. Everyone knows we're dating. It's not surprising at this point." Rouga replies.

Tasuku picked up the soap and a bath sponge and looked at Rouga with a grin. "Well then I get to wash you." He moves closer to Rouga. "It's only fair."

Rouga grabs the shampoo and grins as well. "Then i'm going to wash that pretty hair of yours."

"Deal."


End file.
